Two sources close to the matter say Harrisburg School District will pay its new in-house solicitor a base salary of $180,000 a year, plus a $75,000 bonus if he keeps legal fees under a certain level, but it wasn’t clear what the circumstances would have to be in order for him to earn the bonus.
The school board voted 5-4 Monday to hire James Ellison as the district’s in-house solicitor, with school board President Danielle Robinson, Lola Lawson, Patricia Whitehead-Myers, Ellis Roy and Lionel Gonzalez voting in favor of his appointment, and Carrie Fowler, Brian Carter, Judd Pittman and Joe Brown voting against it.
While the district has not disclosed the terms of the contract, the source said Ellison will have an office within the district’s administration building,and a mobile phone and laptop paid for by the district.
Robinson said the district was looking for ways to reduce the legal fees it’s paying, and said hiring Ellison as in-house solicitor could save the district money that it now pays to hire outside counsel. The district’s current legal fees range between $800,000 and $1 million annually, she has said.
Ellison was a controversial selection, however, given his track record:
As an attorney with now-defunct Rhoads & Sinon law firm, he played a central role in the controversial 2010 ouster of then-Harrisburg Superintendent Gerald Kohn, under former Mayor Linda Thompson. Kohn filed a wrongful termination suit against the district which led, in 2013, to a $2.4 million settlement in Kohn’s favor
More recently, Ellison’s current and former law firms agreed in November 2016 to pay $420,000 in a settlement with the Coatesville Area School District after a lengthy legal battle with officials there over allegations of overbilling and giving unsound legal advice. A grand jury report on the school district finances criticized Ellison’s billing practices.
And in 2012, Ellison was ordered to pay a $2,297 fine as part of an agreement ending a State Ethics Commission probe that found, in part, that he improperly steered work toward Rhoads & Sinon while he was chairman of the Harrisburg Authority.